Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian said Mikhail Tal tournament cannot be compared to others.

“There are no random players there. Even if one of the participants has a lower rating, as it is with China’s Wang Hao or Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, they nevertheless have formidable power. There is certain discrepancy between the rating and the quality of their skills,” said Aronian to R-sport agency. 

Aronian is the third-ranking favorite of Tal Memorial – after Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and Indian Viswanathan Anand. Israeli Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik, Russians Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk and American Hikaru Nakamura are listed among the participants.

Moscow-based tournament will end on November 25. It has the highest average rating of participants (2776) in the world.